The author (right) with Iloilo hosts Tibong Jardeleza and Marie Wharton, and chef Sandy Daza.

All Iloilo must be celebrating Iloilo City being named UNESCO’s City of Gastronomy. The city met certain criteria for the recognition, one of which is having a vibrant gastronomy community. My many trips through the years to this West Visayas city has seen this vibrancy again and again.

My last visit was just last month, to judge at the Tabu-an, a yearly cooking competition that requires contestants to do traditional West Visayas cooking methods using the ingredients of the place. Before and after the contest, our host, Tabu-an organizer Tibong Jardeleza, made sure we ate through both traditional and the innovative Ilonggo cooking.

So, for the next five days, we were treated to both high and low cuisine although “high” was really a matter of ambience.

Batchoy was on top of our agenda. We went to Lapaz market, and because it was being renovated, batchoy places like Netong’s and Deco’s were in temporary sites but side by side. On another day, we went to Ted’s, which was my first encounter with batchoy ages ago and thrilled then at being told that guinamos (fermented acetes) in a gauze container was swirled around the broth to lend its salty flavor.

When Fort San Pedro (Fort San Pedro Dr., Iloilo City Proper) for dinner was mentioned, all the former wonderful food we had there before replayed in my mind. And that included being told by Iloilo’s Maridel Uygongco (more on her cakes later) how, in the old days, the place was where to get Pancit Molo, and that they ate bowls of it seated in the car, with the Iconic dumpling soup balancing on their knees.

Before it became a food place, Fort San Pedro functioned as a bulwark under the Spanish, Americans, and Japanese. The last time we were there we dined in the open area, but a big hut now serves as dining place where excellent grilled food like chicken inasal and fish like the bisugo (goatfish) were available that day. We munched to music provided by sing-along artists.

At Salam Ukan (San Jose Street, Villa Arevalo), the main order is boiled nose to tail carabao meat, including offal. In Filipino cooking and here, especially in Iloilo, nothing is wasted. We detected a sweetish touch to the broth and were told that the owner accidentally knocked a Mountain Dew drink into the soup while cooking.

People have asked me why we cook with soft drinks or soda. Those contribute sweetness, another flavor dimension and are sometimes believed to be tenderizers. Jardeleza told me that their Arroz Valenciana has rice cooked with Sprite, so no need to add sugar. And, of course, in many parts of the country, barbecue marinade is laced with soft drinks.

Part of our last day eating was at Dumalag’s Single Double (Iloilo City proper, in front of SM Delgado). Pots are boiling out front, holding beef parts in broth--cheek, neck, brain, spleen, tripe, big intestine. A bowl is both waker-upper for breakfast and at night, something to settle the stomach with after drinks. The orders are made from beef head parts of the cheek, neck, and brains as well as offal (spleen, tripe, big intestine). The term “single double” derives from the size of the soup serving. The owner assured us that they have soup #5, a so-called aphrodisiac that separates the man from the boys, or so they wish.

In Iloilo, you can’t leave if you don’t go to Breakthrough and Tatoy’s Manokan and Seafood Restaurant (Cagatuan, Pavia, Iloilo City).

Tatoy is the nickname of Honoratio Espino who opened his restaurant by the sea in the 1970s. It was first known for its lechon manok, native chicken stuffed with lemongrass and tamarind leaves and then binakol, chicken soup cooked inside a bamboo container. On the way to the airport, we stopped by its Cabatuan branch to sample again its lechon manok, sinabawan na lapu-lapu sa kamatis (boiled grouper soured with tomatoes), and grilled managat (mangrove jack).

The success of managat is attributed to Raymundo Robles of Breakthrough (Sto. Niño Norte, Arevalo, Iloilo City). He discovered that the fish, considered a pest because it ate bangus (milkfish) fry, was itself worth eating because it had a milky quality, sometimes better tasting than milkfish. While managat is a bestseller at his restaurant, the quality of his main ingredients (fresh and fatty) and great cooking established Breakthrough as one of the best restaurants in town. Fat oysters and clams are somehow always bursting. Rice was cooked splendidly with crab fat. Eel was braised as adobadong indong. Chicken was roasted perfumed with tanglad (lemongrass). Banana heart was made into a salad. While those are traditional, a sashimi of lobster made its way to our table. No wonder it was full house at Breakthrough that Sunday.

From Garage to High-End

It isn’t only heritage food that Iloilo does so well. It’s a whole range of offerings from garage eateries to high-end dining.

Take kalanPh. (Javellana Extension Road, Jaro) set in a garage that offers burgers, pasta, and fried chicken, staples of the younger generation that the older set will surely appreciate, not only because those are excellently cooked and flavored, but also because of the unbelievable prices (by Manila standards) with the average below P300. One order of chicken burger bursting not only with flavor, but also because of its size will make you choose kalanPh. over any imported burger brands.

Now let’s talk about the elegant sites. And two are located by the river that meanders through Iloilo City.

Waterfront Seafood and Restaurant (General Luna St, Iloilo City Proper, Iloilo City) is so-named because of the Iloilo River and the esplanade that runs beside it. A wine display as part of the décor already confirms it as high-end. Owner Carl Jardeleza (yes, related to Tibong) and his chef John Marie Chavez presented the best of Iloilo sea fare, most served elegantly on layered seafood tower platters the way the French do their plat de fruits de mer. There were lamb spareribs, pizza with curls of ham and a whole white cheese on top, lobster thermidor, and pasta. Wine flowed freely as did scotch. Dessert was key lime pie.

On our last day but not really our last meal, we went through a boatyard that builds and repairs boats and also houses The Boat Club by the riverbank (Drilon Bridge, Barangay Progreso, Lapuz). The entrance and the simple but elegant interior were impressive. Owner Ian Mayer Verona had a story about diving under the Iloilo river with more experienced fishermen. The surprise for me was meeting up again with Chef Ramon Antonio whose former work was in Makati but whose new life and work was in Iloilo (he’s much slimmer from his runs by the river, he said). He runs the kitchen here, training the staff in the art of fine dining. The menu offered seafood from the waters of Iloilo, as well as meat cooked with Iloilo ingredients and methods. So the amuse bouche had libas-cured gravlax, the salad of crab meat had a batwan dressing, ocean snapper was called by its local name—gingaw—served with a lumpia, a version of kadyos, baboy, langka (KBL). Even dessert was lime cheesecake with a latik sauce.

Our first meal in Iloilo had a different setting -- a farm in the town of Tigbauan named Dreamer’s Valley Camp and Resort that conducts seminars on natural farming systems. Heading to our dining area, we heard a seminar speaker who talked about farming native chicken. Our host, Tibong Jardeleza said they also farm baboy ramo or damo, which should change its stature as “wild pig.” We had both for lunch, the baboy ramo cooked as adobo and the chicken boiled as nilagpang or grilled first then put into a broth with tomatoes, onions, and ginger. Both had deep flavors expected of their “native” and “wild” nature. A salad made from the farm’s vegetables included blue ternate flowers. The flower, also known as blue pea flower, is now an overused ingredient, used more for its electric blue color than the flavor it brings to a dish. Fried tanguigue was our fish dish, fried fresh, and flavorful.

The Tigbauan lunch showed how heritage meals can be served in different settings. On our first evening, we were brought to Casa Rivera to partake of what was offered at Pepe’s (Barangay San Antonio, Oton). Owner Marie Wharton said she just made up the name for the place that served what she termed as palayok (clay pot) dinners, a more down-to-earth term for heritage food. There was grilled eggplant with ground pork cooked with coconut milk, sticks of lumpia, bangus cooked as Spanish sardine, beef steak, the house specialty adobo cooked in buko (young coconut juice), salted egg and mango salad. Dessert had two of her cakes—ube and tres leches. How we were able to tuck all that in after a heavy lunch, several cake desserts, and two batchoy merienda is a wonder.

That was heritage cooking in a heritage house. But Iloilo also can offer guests a different setting. For instance, Balai Vittorio (near Oton town Plaza), a bed and breakfast place, has dinner served on a platform in the garden. This trip was my second time, and I remember the long drive away from the city to a suburb. Owner Vivian Claver expressed her welcome not only with her food, but also with the table setting, so chic it could have been at a five-star hotel. My seatmate and I first attacked the oysters in their shell because we hardly get those in Manila. The Ilonggo arroz Valenciana done with malagkit rice was sticky heavenly; duck was roasted whole; fish served as kinilaw or sliced and fried; seaweed presented as salad; pork grilled to perfection. And, as if to suggest that the place can do more than Filipino cooking, pizza was offered.

One expects good Chinese cooking in Iloilo. After all, Chinese influence permeates the cuisine with soups such as Pancit Molo and Batchoy and the Black Chicken in miswa with Chinese herbs (sibut).

Spring Palace Seafood Restaurant (Smallville Complex, Corner Dr. Rizalina Bernardo Ave. & Boardwalk Ave., Mandurriao) is like many outstanding Chinese restaurants with its glass tank of fresh seafood. The menu in the hands of Chinese chef George comes with high quality local ingredients. One cannot go wrong with steamed lapu-lapu, for instance. The menu has what people expect—roast duck, salt and pepper spareribs, cold cuts. Owner and Operations Manager Frédéric Obeña and Manager Jacqui Jagudilla, who hosted our lunch, should be rightly proud of their offerings.

What? No dessert? It need not be asked because we got more sweets than we deserved. Maridel’s (21 Avenue beside Diversion 21 Hotel - Benigno Aquino Ave. Diversion Road, Mandurriao) was front of mind because we found irresistible the thought of tasting once again her snicker pie. We didn’t remember her cakes’ names but just pointed at them, ordering almost everything in her display—chocolate cakes in different forms, meringue layers, tortes, and ice cream. My only regret is not ordering any of those to take home because we still had two days of eating to do.

Another dessert place is Mrs. Wharton’s Pastries and English Teas . (Barangay San Antonio, Oton) in the same compound as Pepe’s. Marie Wharton (yes, it’s British, her married name) said she didn’t study baking formally and relied on the internet. But her cakes not only looked good, they could rival many cake places we’ve been to. While there are tables for dining in the garden it was too hot that day, and we repaired to a small waiting room where we all dug our forks into each cake then declared our favorites. The camote cake intrigued me and that got my vote. Others opted for the ube cake and the rich chocolate cake. Tea and coffee were served.

After having our fill at Breakthrough, we had coffee and dessert at Café Gloria (Sto. Niño Sur, Arevalo), which can also be said to be a mini art gallery where the owner, Mary Ann Darroca-Matiling, displays the work of artist friends. Coffee seems to be a serious undertaking here judging by the coffee bar and the way the beverage is served in special cups, sometimes on wooden small trays with gold spoons and gold coin candy. It’s those small touches that make a place memorable.

Micky Fenix is the author of Country Cooking: Philippine Regional Cuisines which won the National Book Award. She is president of the Food Writers Association of the Philippines and chair of the Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing Award.

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